Hemming attachment for sewing machines



Dec. 16, 1947. 5. ROOSEVELT v HEMMING ATTACHMENT FOR SEWING MACHINE S Filed July 12, 1945 3 SheetsSheet l fi/nsrd fio as ere/7:

Dec. 16, 1947. G. ROOSEVELT HEMMING ATTACHMENT FOR SEWING MACHINES Filed July 12, 1945 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Dec. 16, 1947. ROOSEVELT 2,432,588

HEMMING ATTACHMENT FOR SEWING MACHINES Filed July 12, 1945 V s Sheets-Sheet s 9 H. lcfgozw/ flfforn eg Patented Dec. 16, 1947 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE HEMMING ATTACHMENT FOR- SEWING MACHINES 2 Claims.

The present invention relates to hemming devices for use with sewing machines, particularly sewing machines which produce a blind stitch.

The invention provides a simple, inexpensive, thoroughly durable and quickly adjustable device or set of devices which can be used readily, with out the exercise of any particular degree of skill or amount of experience, to fold an edge of a piece of cloth or other fabric so as to provide a hem of predetermined accurate width which can be fed to the presser foot and needle of any standard or other blind stitch sewing machine for stitching the hem in place.

A particular object of the invention is to provide a device of the character indicated in which the operator can very readily form the cloth into the required folded condition.

A further object is to provide a device in which adjustments for hems of different widths can be made readily and quickly by interchanging hemmer-scrolls.

Another object is to provide a device in which a hemmer-scroll of predetermined width, selected from a plurality of hammer-scrolls comprising a set forming part of the device, can be mounted in accurate position so as to align the fold to be chine, showing mounted on the bed thereof a preferred embodiment of the invention, with a length of cloth operatively mounted in the device and being fed through the machine;

Fig. 2 is a top plan View, on substantially full scale, of the device;

3 is a vertical transverse sectional View taken through the bed of the machine shown in Fig. 1, showing the device mounted in position;

Fig. 4 is a vertical cross sectional view taken through the positiomacijusting parts of the device, on the line 3-4 of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is a top plan view of a plurality of hemmer-scrolls comprising a set, or a portion of a set, which forms part of the device.

The invention comprises, generally speaking, a folded element in the form of a scroll, through which the edge margin of a piece of cloth or the like can be looped so as to dispose the margin in folded or hemmed position, later to be fed in such condition to the presser foot and needle of a blind stitch sewing machine where the fold will be stitched. This scroll is mounted on a support, provided in the form of a plate, which is adjustably associated with a base fixedly positioned on the bed of the sewing machine, so that the plate can be moved transversely of the line of feed so as to bring the fold accurately under the needle where it will be stitched to the main body of the cloth. An important feature of the invention, by which hems of difierent width may be sewed, consists in providing a number of scrolls of mutually different widths and making the supporting plate for these scrolls quickly adjustable so that in every case the fold which is to be sewed will be registered with the line of feed of the cloth to the needle.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, Fig. 1 shows a well known type of blind stitch sewing machine, including a bed I, a needle 2, a presser foot 3 and, in this case, a trimmer mechanism 4. It is to be understood that this particular sewing machine forms no part of the invention but is shown merely to illustrate the manner in which the hemming device which constitutes the invention may be applied to any known type of sewing machine.

The invention itself comprises a supporting carrier 5, comprising a plate having at one end a relatively broad, flat portion 6 and terminating at its other end in a relatively long arm 1 provided with rack teethB along its inner edge for a purpose hereinafter to be explained.

Along that edge of the portion 6 of the plate 5 from which the arm 1 extends, the plate is provided with a plurality of spaced eyes 9, having their bores aligned to receive a hinge pin element lb which connects, in hinged relation with the eyes 9, one or more similar eyes ll formed on a hemmer scroll I2 and fitting into the spaces between the eyes 9.

The hemmer scrolls 12 are provided in a set of mutually different widths. In the illustrated embodiment of the invention I show four such scrolls, being one-half inch, one inch, one and one-half inch and two inches wide respectively. Fig. 2 shows the one and one-half inch scroll in operative position. The other three scrolls are shown in Fig. 5. It will be understood that all of the scrolls interchangeably fit the hinging eyes 9 of the carrier plate and the hinge pin element 10.

All the scrolls are made alike except for their width. Each of them comprises a body of sheet metal bent to provide an upper cover portion having a laterally projecting handle l3 and turned inwardly at one edge, through a short distance [4, to provide a comparatively narrow and shallow pocket 15. From the inner edge of the portion M the sheet metal is reversely bent almost to the edge of the cover portion and then back on itself again, almost to the hinge eyes II, to provide a fairly wide tongue portion It. All of this shape, which is best shown in Fig. 3, provides a scroll contour into which the marginal edge of a piece of cloth I? may be looped around the tongue l8 and into the pocket [5, to provide a hem shape as the margin of the cloth is fed through the scroll.

The h nge pin element It is made generally U-shaped, comprising a hinging portion la and a supporting rest portion lilb, connected by a bight lflc. The bight has a depending loop which can be pushed in to abut against the edge of the arm "I, or can be rested on the arm, with the shoulder I Ed abutting the nearest eye 9 of the carrier plate. The supporting rest portion lllb of the hinge pin element extends parallel to the hinging portion it-a, and above the level of that portion, so that the scroll may be swung up about the hinge and rest on the portion I017 at an incl nation of some 45, more or less, depending on whether the loop of the bight rests on the bed I or on the arm i, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3. In this elevated position it is very easy for the operator to thread the margin of the cloth into the scroll. Then the scroll can be lowered to its operating position, shown in full lines in Fig. 3, in which position the cloth can be pulled through the'soroll and fed beneath the presser foot 3 to the needle 2.

It will be appreciated that the plate must be accurately positioned to bring directly under the needle 2 that fold of the fabric, designated IS in Fig. 3, which is to be stitched down against the body of the fabric. It will also be evident that this position of the carrier plate 5 must be changed to accommodate scrolls of different width. In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, with its four scrolls, four different positions are required for the carrier plate. The present invention provides for this adjustment, and includes means for accurately achieving it, by the structure which will now be described.

A base 29 is securely fixed to the bed I of the sewing machine as by screws 2! and constitutes a low housing for the arm I of the carrier plate 5. Journaled in the base 29, on an upstanding post or short shaft 22, is a gear '23 which meshes with the rack teeth 8 of the arm '5. A knob 24 is made fast to the gear and the hub of the knob is provided with a more or less radially projecting pointer 25 which swings over an arcuate scale 26 on the base when the knob is turned to rotate the gear and reciprocate the arm I. A cap nut 21 may be threaded on to the top of the post or shaft 22 to compress a coil spring 28 against the bottom of a recess in the top of the knob. Thus the knob and the gear which it carries are frictionally held against unwanted rotation, so as to prevent accidental change in adjustment. The scale 26 is provided with ind cia cooperating with the pointer 25. In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, in which four scrolls are used, there are four indicia on the scale, as shown in Fig. 2. When the pointer 25 extends to any one of the indicia, for example the one marked 1 /2 as shown in Fig. 2, the arm and carrier plate 5 are set for positioning the correspondingly numbered scroll on the hinge pin 4 I 0. This adjustment serves to bring the fold line 18 of cloth in the one and one-half inch wide scroll directly in the line of feed to the needle 2. Such setting is therefore the proper one for producing a hem one and one-half inches wide.

When a hem of some other width is to be produced, the knob 24 is rotated to bring the pointer 25 to the proper index figure on the scale 26, say the figure 1, and then the setting is appropriate for mounting the correspondingly marked scroll on the hinge pin I0.

It will be observed that the arrangement which has been described and which is shown in the drawings makes it possible for the operator to set the device instantly so as accurately to align with the needle 2 the fold it] in the cloth for any width of hem within th range of the device, for

which a hemmer-scroll is provided.

When the proper scroll is mounted on the hinge pin it is lifted to the dotted line position shown in Fig. 3 and the margin of the cloth is inserted about the tongue 56. Then the scroll is lowered to the full line position of Fig. 3 and the cloth is pulled through the scroll and fed accurately to the needle to be stitched.

It is to be understood that the invention is capabl of being embodied in forms other than that shown in the drawings and described in this specification and that all such modifications are to be deemed within the scope of the invention as pointed out by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A hemming attachment for sewing machines comprising a carrier plate, means for mounting said plate on the bed of a sewing machine, a hemmer-scroll hinged to said plate for swinging movement betweena lower operating position and an upper cloth-inserting position, and a removable hinge pin connecting the hammer-scroll to the plate and provided with a return bent extension spaced above the plate and adapted to support the hemmer-scroll in its upper position.

2. A hemming attachment for sewing machines comprising a carrier plate, a hemmer-scroll hinged to said plate for swinging movement between a lower operating position and an upper cloth-inserting position, means for moving the plate transversely of the line of feed of folded cloth to the needle of the machine so as to feed directly to the needle a line of fold formed by the hammer-scroll, a hinge pin connecting the hemmer-scroll to the plate, and a return bent portion formed on the hinge pin and movable with the hemmer-scroll and the plate for supporting the hemmer-scroll in said upper position.

GILFERD ROOSEVELT.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 529,419 Schoen Nov. 20, 1894 755,348 Blaskopf Mar. 22, 1904 997,621 Hulbert July 11, 1911 1,290,052 Becker Jan. 7, 1919 1,334,589 Beckert Mar. 23, 1920 2,142,277 McDonald Jan. 3, 1939 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 167,949 Germany Feb. 19, 1905 

